


come with me

by kaigee



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Blind Character, Blindness, Character Death, Gen, Heartbreak, M/M, Minor Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji, Sad Okumura Eiji, somethings fucking wrong with me, theres already enough angst in the show whyd i write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29193444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaigee/pseuds/kaigee
Summary: I was rewatching the show and wanted to write something.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	come with me

**Author's Note:**

> I was rewatching the show and wanted to write something.

* * *

His heart goes first. Then his eyes.

Down he goes, swallowed up by darkness, by death, by infinite emptiness all around him. Like a dead fish floating in the vast expanse of ice-chilled ocean, tossed by the waves that roll so far above, only—he was already dead.

His heart went first, after all.

He felt it then, as the world moved around him, drawn in and out to the sound of each deafening beat. And he knew, somehow, which beat would be the last.

The world is strange sometimes.

_ (And surreal, and mesmerizingly beautiful—and shit.) _

Yes, he could feel it. When it dawned on him what they were saying, when his blood froze in his veins, but before then—before, when his breaths echoed in his ears, when he looked at their pained expressions and all he could think was:  _ I know what you’re going to say. _

Eiji shifts in bed. He opens his eyes to experiment. Does it fast, blinking quickly—then slowly, then keeps his eyes open for a while, reaching up to touch his eyelids with his fingers, to press down against them, shuddering. 

“Eiji?” someone asks, and it’s his sister. She’s thirty-seven. He’s twenty-nine. He feels that ten years was much too long to wait for something as underwhelming as this. Why did he wait? 

Maybe it was for her. So she could live. Well, she will soon have to figure out how to do that without him. It’s not just his eyes that are going. He’s blind, and dying. (And about time, since his heart went so, so long ago. It’s a wonder he’s lasted this long.)

Eiji is ready to go.

“Eiji!” his mom cries.  _ Damn, they’re all here.  _ He thinks she’s somewhere to his right. The hand resting on his arm, squeezing tighter and tighter, is probably hers. Hospitals always make him think of Ash, and for a moment he imagined it was his hand instead. 

Is he selfish?

Is he cruel?

Probably. Very probably. There must be few things cruller than dying surrounded by your teary-eyed family and barely sparing them a thought. And yet, Eiji’s thoughts are full of Ash. He doesn’t take a moment to wonder if they’ll think it’s crazy if he smiles. They gasp, but at least he doesn’t have to look at them.

The doctors were confused.  _ Why is he dying? He’s so young!  _

_ Ha,  _ Eiji would say, should say, probably  _ did  _ say, when he was on all that medication.  _ My heart went a long time ago. _

When the news came across the ocean, from America. When the news reached him, and they looked at him with pained expressions as they delivered it, and he heard them say:

_ “Ash is… well, he’s not… he’s not coming to Japan, Eiji.” _

Softly, like he was a gentle flower that would wilt if they spoke too loudly or sharply, like he would fall to pieces right there on the spot. Their gentleness hurt worse, broke him faster. He didn’t want to be a soft child that needed protecting from the truth. He wanted them to shake him until his teeth rattled and scream at him:

_ “ASH IS DEAD ASH IS DEAD ASH IS DEAD” _

Eiji winces. Sometimes, his mind conjures up the most painful things. Ten years later, he should be over it. But even the times he managed to forget, the weight of memory still dragged him down.

Eiji is ready to be set free.

So he closes his eyes and lies still. And though his family cry and shout for him to  _ stay,  _ holding his hands and yelling out for doctors, Eiji doesn’t hear them. His ears, maybe, are gone too, because all he hears is Ash’s sweet voice, while he sees his beautiful smile, up there where the waves break, where the sunlight is, smile warm and wide, calling down through the water: 

_ “Come with me, Eiji. _

Eiji goes.  __

* * *


End file.
